Folktales

Check out Fuse #8’s post, Where Have All the Folktales Gone, and the comments to see what people are saying about folktales for kids.  It’s an interesting discussion.  I’ve definitely heard over and over again from the branches “no more folktales, please!” and it looks like our patrons are not the only ones who have lost interest.

Fresh Booklists Coming Soon!

The graphics department is currently working on two new booklists I created:  Tween Reads and Middle School Reads.  These follow the new booklist guidelines limiting total number of items to 20 per list and emphasizing authors and series over specific titles.  They will replace the graded booklists, which will no longer be updated.  In order to account for the wide range of reading abilities and interests at each grade level, I’m including multiple grade levels in these lists to avoid a child having to choose off the “2nd grade list” when they’re in 3rd grade.   I’ve also tried to include a variety of genres and perspectives.  Please let me know if you have feedback on these lists.

Midnight Charter

A few weeks ago I got a box of ARCs (Advance Readers Copies) of forthcoming children’s books.  I go through the books and order the ones that are appropriate for our collection and then separate the books I want to read out.  I went through my pile of “to reads” this week and thumbed through a few, trying out the first few sentences to see what grabbed me.  Here’s what grabbed me:  “Being dead was colder than Mark had expected.”  I read the first sentence and then a few after it and I was hooked. The whole book went very quickly for me, it was the kind of book I wanted to spend my lunchbreak reading.  It’s set in a dystopian future in the walled city of Agora where everything has a value (including life,) and you barter and trade for the things you need.  Lily and Mark, both property (servants) in the same house, become fast friends but when their circumstancest change, they go in completely different directions.  Mark becomes famous, wealthy and sought-after.  Lily opens an Almhouse and feeds and houses the poor, a radical and possibly illegal endeavor.  But though their paths are different, Mark and Lily’s lives inexplicably linked.

This novel had the possibility of becoming didactic, but I was so wrapped up in the story and the characters, it didn’t phase me.  I would recommend this book to readers who enjoyed City of Ember and The Giver.   Here is a much better review than mine, over at the UK’s Fantasy Book Review.

The Midnight Charter is written by 24 year old David Whitley of England.  It’s being published in the US by Roaring Brook just one month after its British publication.  There MUST be sequel (or sequels,) but I can’t find any information about forthcoming books in the series. If any FVRL employees would like to read this ARC before I send it on to Jacqueline, let me know by the end of next week and I will send it to you!

Note on the cover: I find this US cover a bit creepy.  The ARC cover was very plain.  Not sure I would have picked it up with this cover.  The UK cover isn’t creepy at all.

Mock Caldecott

While we’re talking about the Mock Newbery, let me point you to a Mock Caldecott list.  Pinot and Prose lists the Queens (NY) Library’s first Mock Caldecott discussion list.  Anything you’ve read and enjoyed on this list?

ACPL Mock Newberry

The Allen County Public Library in Indiana has a great Mock Newbery blog that leads up to their Mock Newbery in January.  They have just published the first of four short lists here.  Check it out and let me know if you’ve read any of the books on the list and what you think.  I’ve read Peace, Locomotion, Anything but Typical, and The Year the Swallows Came Early. I have The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate at home and When You Reach Me on hold.  Looks like I’ve got a lot of catch up reading to do!

Next Step Booklist

Copies of the Next Step Booklist will be arriving in branches soon.  This booklist follows the new format that you should expect to see in our children’s booklists.  It is a short list highlighting authors and series instead of specific titles, making it easier for branches around the district to help patrons find items from the lists on the shelves at their branch.  The Next Step booklist is suggestions for books to read once the patron is ready to move on from the Easy Reader section.  Please let me know any feedback you have on the list!

While you’re waiting for next Diary of a Wimpy Kid…

Two new books that have been compared to Wimpy Kid are headed out to the branches soon. They are: Max Quigley, Technically Not a Bully and Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-so-Fabulous Life. I haven’t read them, but they have a mix of text and some drawings and are all about the dramas of school. Let me know what you think if you read one of them!

Cattle Ranching Life in ChildLit

I often read more than one book at a time, but they don’t usually mesh quite like the two I read this week.  I read Heart of a Shepherd by (Portland resident!) Rosanne Parry and The Beef Princess of Practical County by Michelle Houts this week, and at times I had trouble keeping the characters straight.  Both books are debut novels, and I think we can expect great things to come from both of these authors.  Both novels are set on cattle ranches and both feature 12 year olds trying to live up to the precedents set by older siblings.  They both contain details about life on a ranch and caring for livestock.

In Heart of a Shepherd, Brother is left to help run the family ranch with his grandparents when his father is shipped out to Iraq and his brothers are away at school and in the military.  It’s a sweet story and wanders a bit, coming to a conclusion about Brother’s future which is foreshadowed but still a big decision for a boy to make.  I think boys will especially like this book which in addition to ranching life deals with family relationships, friendships, repercussions of war and suddenly becoming the man of the house.

It’s a bit unfortunate that the The Beef Princess of Practical County will be more attractive to girls than boys with that title, the girl on the cover, and the prevalence of hot pink, because I think some boys would be interested in this story as well.  Libby Ryan is showing her first steer at the fair this year and hopes to not be overshadowed by her brother’s past accomplishments.  The novel includes lot’s of detail about choosing and caring for show cattle and the difficulty of loving and caring for an animal only to turn around and auction it off for meat.  I know we have a lot of kids in the District who participate in showing livestock  and I think they would enjoy this story, and especially their younger siblings awaiting their first chance to show.  Full disclosure: there was not the happy ending I was rooting for, but a realistic ending that real ranch kids will undoubtedly appreciate.

New Lemony Snicket Film?

Thanks to Fuse#8, I learned this morning that there is a chance that there could be another Series of Unfortunate Events film…eventually.  Instead of live action, this new film would be stop motion animation.  I’m thinking something inspired by Coraline.  So cool!  Read more here.

Do you have Harry on the shelf?

As we all are well-aware, the next Harry Potter film is released July 15, which means you’re probably seeing an increased demand for the books.  Please keep in mind that we have copies of the HP books in the ROT and SEL collections and we’d be happy to send them out to be read!  Let Meg Z know if you’d like some additional copies!